-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Nine months after a Justice Department investigation castigated Puerto Rico 's police department , another exhaustive report , this one by the American Civil Liberties Union , discloses evidence of widespread abuses and violations of civil rights .

The Puerto Rico Police Department , the second-largest police department in the United States , was the object of a scathing report by the ACLU that concluded things have not changed since the government issued its own report .

The 17,000-strong department `` is a dysfunctional and recalcitrant police force that has run amok for years , '' the report said .

The organization found routine use of excessive force and incidents of civil and human rights violations , especially against low-income people , Puerto Ricans of African descent and Dominican immigrants .

`` These abuses do not represent isolated incidents or aberrant behavior by a few rogue officers . Such police brutality is pervasive and systemic , island-wide and ongoing , '' the new report states .

Puerto Rico 's secretary of state called the ACLU report a `` rehash '' of what the federal government had already found , and said that changes are already under way .

Millions of dollars have been spent on retraining , new equipment and salary raises to improve morale , Secretary of State Kenneth McClintock said .

The Justice Department 's own report included more than 100 recommendations that had been drafted and implemented by the Puerto Rican government itself , he said .

`` We are already changing the police force and changing it dramatically , '' he said .

Government officials of the U.S. commonwealth admit that there are some problems with its police force , but it is not correct to call it pervasive , he said .

`` For some agents it was something ingrained , in some members of the force , '' McClintock said .

The Puerto Rican government has raised more than $ 50 million to spend on its police force , much of that going to police raises and training .

When the Justice Department released its report last year , it noted that amid the allegations of abuse , Puerto Rico was grappling with a record-number of homicides in 2010 .

The ACLU report updates the figure , saying that with 1,130 murders in 2011 , last year set a record for homicides .

Over a five-year period from 2005 to 2010 , more than 1,700 officers -- or about 10 % of the total police force -- were arrested for criminal activity such as assault , theft , domestic violence , drug trafficking and even murder , the report says .

The ACLU says that incidents of abuse or impropriety have been reported as recently as May of this year .

`` You do n't have a dramatic transformation overnight , '' McClintock said .

According to the ACLU , the Puerto Rico Police Department has used unreasonable force in at least some of the 28 deaths of civilians that it said came at the hands of the police .

The most recent killing happened in April of this year , the report states .

On April 27 , two brothers got into a dispute with a police officer after he stopped their sister for speeding . At one point , one of the brothers took the officer 's nightstick and hit him with it , and the other hit him with a pipe , police have said . The officer responded by firing 14 times , killing Saul Medina Figueroa and critically injuring Adrian Medina Figuaroa , the report states .

The sister disputes that the officer acted in self-defense , raising questions about the justification of the officer 's use of force , the ACLU report says .

The ACLU based its findings on interviews conducted in Puerto Rico between March and September , 2011 .

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CNN 's Nick Valencia contributed to this report .

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The ACLU says it found a pattern of civil rights violations by Puerto Rican police

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A government investigation had a similar conclusion last year

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Puerto Rico says it is already working to fix the problems